It was August, and the climate was that of mid-summer. The night in Yingshan County felt stiflingly hot. It was especially humid and muggy after yesterday's heavy rain. Yet, Li Shouxian and his old superior and Party School classmate, Xu Guangde, were dressed tightly from head to toe. There were many mosquitoes and insects in the mountains, and getting bitten a few times was unbearable. Only after lighting mosquito coils and fumigating the room with slightly fragrant, thick smoke did the temporary accommodation in the tea garden become somewhat tolerable.

The two had walked all over Yingshan County, and Li Shouxian had given Xu Guangde a detailed introduction to the entire county's situation. At this moment, while annihilating the last few mosquitoes that refused to leave the room, they continued to discuss work.

"Current work can only be said to have just unfolded. Going forward, we need to build mulberry gardens, tea gardens, repair reservoirs, and organize roads on a larger scale. If possible, we also need to generate electricity. The work will be very hard." Li Shouxian did not talk about his achievements, but instead made ample predictions about the future hardships.

"Haha, I had long heard that Yingshan County's economic construction was done well, but I only realized how hard this place is after coming to see it for myself." Xu Guangde also had a profound understanding of the difficulty of his future work. Comrades had only heard that Yingshan was doing well and that Li Shouxian was capable, but after seeing it with his own eyes, Xu Guangde realized it was a different matter entirely. In such a barren mountainous area, just walking a circle would take more than ten days. Li Shouxian had actually managed to organize the masses scattered all over the mountains to work. The amount of mental and physical effort this took was admirable just thinking about it. If not for Li Shouxian's management and organizational ability, the current situation would probably collapse in an instant.

For some reason, Li Shouxian always felt very uneasy. He couldn't help but urge, "We mobilized the masses in the early stage, and a lot of that initial enthusiasm has been used up. Later on, we can only rely on management and perfecting the system. You will definitely have a hard time. Chairman Chen said in the Party School that the transparency of decision-making is very important. The processes must be straightened out. You've seen it too, the goal is to improve the lives of the masses, but if one arrangement is improper, trouble will arise. It's not like you can just watch the situation move forward and everything will be fine. Details determine success or failure. Just feeling in your heart that this is for the good of the masses won't make them appreciate it."

The Party cadres transferred this time were all selected elites, so Xu Guangde could absolutely understand this level of cognition. "Don't worry. As long as we grasp anti-exploitation and labor for wealth, the focus of the problem is whether we can let the masses understand our policies. The rest is management and material fulfillment. To get rich, build roads first. Once the roads are open and the cost of transporting materials comes down, the lives of the masses can definitely improve a lot more."

"You must not be anxious. Not only can the government not be anxious, but we also can't let the masses be anxious. I made mistakes before because I was anxious and failed to understand the urgent desire of the masses to escape poverty, resulting in communication problems. Infrastructure construction is very hard work; you'll have to take the blame for this." In fact, what Li Shouxian worried about most was this issue.

Xu Guangde suddenly sighed with emotion, "Chairman Chen said that as long as we give the masses a chance to get rich, how crazy can they get? I didn't believe it then, but now I really do. If we hadn't straightened out the mulberry leaf picking, just with the current trees, the masses would have picked them to death. Even if the mulberry trees were increased to three times the amount, I'm afraid it wouldn't be enough. But aren't these wages a bit too high? I just don't feel at ease in my heart. We rely on exports now. If foreigners don't buy, the entire Yingshan County would probably collapse immediately, right?"

On this issue, no one had a clear idea. The scale of Chen Ke's spending was something these comrades dared not even think about. The current booming days were entirely built on the foundation that the People's Party had money and grain in hand. Once one of these two pillars had a problem, the consequences would be unimaginable. It was Chen Ke himself who taught the comrades to recognize the current situation. But the one who dared to invest and operate with such a large hand was also Chen Ke himself. How exactly did Chen Ke plan to solve this food problem?

However, both were excellent cadres, and they knew the harm of "delusion." Since everyone had chosen Chen Ke as the Party Chairman, as the leader of the People's Party and the base area, then what everyone could do now was only to obey orders and listen to commands.

The mosquitoes were mostly dealt with. The two hung up the curtains, lit candles, and began to study the locations of future reservoirs facing the map of Yingshan County. Depending on the weather for food was not a long-term plan; reservoirs had to be built to ensure the stability of irrigation. This was what Chairman Chen Ke had emphasized again and again in the training class for excellent cadres.

After studying for a long time, they had a rough idea. Xu Guangde couldn't help but sigh, "Old Li, if you hadn't come with me to do this, I still wouldn't have found the doorway to the county's affairs even now. I really don't want you to leave."

Li Shouxian laughed, "This isn't my credit alone; the comrades of the whole county put in great effort."

"It's that you are willing to learn, not that they really knew what they should do. In terms of correct learning attitude, I really admire you." Xu Guangde sighed, "If I follow Chairman Chen, I naturally submit sincerely. But encountering other comrades, I still feel very unconvinced in my heart. Chairman Chen says this is vulgar taste—only seeing where others aren't doing enough, but not looking at where I myself am not acting scientifically. My vulgar taste is far from being eliminated."

The two comrades talked about work and feelings, and unknowingly the night grew deep. Li Shouxian actually didn't like staying up late. working through the night in high spirits this time was also because the date for him to take office in Wuhu was already very close. At most the day after tomorrow, he would have to set off. There were many things to hand over before leaving.

Time passed quickly, and the day of departure arrived. The comrades of the County Committee wanted to send Li Shouxian down the mountain, but Li Shouxian refused. "Work is this busy, send me next time."

The best way from Yingshan to Wuhu was to take the mountain road to Anqing, and then take a boat from Anqing to Wuhu. However, Li Shouxian had to go to the Organization Department in Hubei to handle personnel transfers, so he had to make a big detour: first to Wuhan for personnel procedures, then take a boat from Wuhan to Anqing for personnel procedures, and only then could he go to Wuhu to take office.

Thinking that Chairman Chen Ke was currently in Wuhan, and he might be able to see him on this trip, Li Shouxian felt a bit impatient. He had accumulated a lot of things he didn't understand in his work. If he could ask for advice from the most wise person in the whole Party, that would be the best thing.

As soon as he arrived at Huangpi Pass, Li Shouxian saw a lot of troops. Surprised, he asked and found out they were troops guarding against floods. Natural disasters were frequent in the late Qing Dynasty. Since the Gengzi year (1900), disasters in every place had become bigger and bigger. The Revolutionaries attributed this problem to "Heaven's Will," and all kinds of propaganda said, "If not for the Manchu Qing losing virtue and their fate ending, how could there be such frequent natural disasters?"

The People's Party had always sneered at this statement. The People's Party started by disaster relief. Natural disasters were not unconquerable; it was that the Manchu Qing simply did not have such organizational capability. After the Mutual Protection of Southeast China, the Imperial Court no longer allocated money and grain to the Southeast. Local self-funded disaster relief was just a joke. With the Manchu Qing's system, no province had the ability to organize tens or hundreds of thousands of people to build dikes and flood defenses on river channels tens or hundreds of *li* long. Not to mention that this manpower couldn't be gathered at all; even if gathered, what would they eat? Even if there were people and grain, were there preparations for so many gunny sacks as in usual times? Was there an organizational system? When it really came to a critical moment, who would command at the most critical places?

In the current China, only the People's Party could complete such work. After flood control was successful, the People's Party's rule over the local area became logical and natural. The completion of land reform in northern Hubei relied on such strength.

However, the dikes were repaired well last year, and this year's flood season should have passed. Why were there still so many troops in Wuhan? Li Shouxian completely didn't understand. When he arrived at the Hubei Provincial Committee, he saw everyone looking jubilant. It turned out that the trial operation of the new equipment shipped from the United States was successful. Chairman Chen was ecstatic. Although most of the Hubei Provincial Committee didn't know exactly what had happened or what was so wonderful about this new equipment, since it could make Chairman Chen so happy, it shouldn't be a small matter.

Li Shouxian naturally didn't know what kind of money-printing machine heavy chemical industry was. Infected by the comrades' emotions, Li Shouxian also became inexplicably happy. People feel refreshed when happy events occur; with high spirits, work efficiency also rose. Li Shouxian quickly handed over his work and boarded the ship to Anqing. Along the way, however, he encountered many foreign merchant ships, and there were even British warships mixed among them. His originally happy mood was immediately cast with a shadow.

The British were very unhappy! After the People's Party provided them with soda ash samples, the British began to be very unhappy.

In the chemical industry foundation of "Three Acids and Two Alkalis," the two alkalis are sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate. Direct production of sodium hydroxide is unrealistic; it has to rely on the reaction of sodium carbonate with calcium hydroxide to produce sodium hydroxide. So in the final analysis, sodium carbonate, which is soda ash, is the foundation of industrial alkali. The British knew Chen Ke was a chemist, and he must have come up with a brand-new method. This brand-new industrial synthesis method actually wasn't shared with the British Empire; the British were naturally furious.

There is no wall in the world that doesn't leak wind. The news that the Americans and the People's Party cooperated to produce industrial synthetic ammonia had spread throughout Europe along with the sales of synthetic ammonia in the American homeland.

The People's Party didn't sell synthetic ammonia, but the People's Party's soda ash soon began selling in several large cities in the Yangtze River basin. Not only in the Yangtze River basin, but through the Peking-Hankou Railway, the People's Party's soda ash arrived directly in Beijing and began selling in the Beiyang industrial zone. Steaming mantou in the north also required soda ash. The pure white soda ash produced by the People's Party was something everyone had never seen before. The price was at least thirty percent cheaper than foreign goods. Just a trial sale triggered a huge sensation.

Chen Ke was a Nobel Prize winner. Europeans originally mocked this with a mentality of looking at a yellow monkey. Now they no longer had such thoughts. Transoceanic telegrams were sent directly from Britain to China, demanding that the People's Party's new technology must be controlled in the hands of the British Empire. They could no longer let the Yankees make big money from it.

The British had always been pragmatic. They first invited Chen Ke to the consulate as a guest. The response received was that Chen Ke had no time now. If Chen Ke had no time, the British had time. While mobilizing warships to Wuhan, they paid a visit in person.

After listening to the British demands, Chen Ke smiled, "Business is business. We have a saying in China: a big customer bullies the shop, and a big shop bullies the customer. I think your country wants to bully us."

"Mr. Chen, there is no logic in your words. We just want to cooperate; there is no such thing as bullying or not." The British representative was a bit unaccustomed to Chen Ke's straightforward attitude.

"I think you should know about the Solvay Syndicate. It's a monopoly-natured guild; soda ash production is currently monopolized by them. They refuse to provide this production process to other countries. I see your country's plan is to use a new monopoly to break their monopoly. What do you think?" Chen Ke was still very direct.

The British representative looked at Chen Ke and felt very clear in his heart. Dealing with smart people had this advantage: there was no need to set traps layer by layer, just get straight to the point. "You could think of it that way."

Chen Ke nodded. "Then how do we guarantee that our own interests are protected in this cooperation? I heard your side also mobilized warships here. This clearly shows you want to bully us."

The solution proposed by the British representative was very simple. "Technology sharing, market sharing." The British could invest in the soda ash industry in the People's Party base area.

Chen Ke had long guessed the British wishful thinking. Soda ash was a highly profitable industry; they clearly wanted to stick a knife in. His answer was crisp, "That is impossible. We cannot accept it. Technology sharing, yes. But the Asian market must be handed over to us for monopoly operation. We guarantee not to leak the soda ash production process. We have absolutely no ability to interfere in the trade of the Atlantic region. But Asia, we must operate it as a monopoly."

The British representative knew this would definitely be a difficult negotiation. They were not facing a simple scientist. If it were a simple scientist, they wouldn't need to mobilize so many people. If Chen Ke were just a scientist and a rebel, the British wouldn't need to worry too much either. After dealing with the People's Party for these two years, the British realized that this force of the People's Party was different from any other force in the world. At least, the British had never heard of, or could simply not imagine, an army actually saving people from disasters together with the people. In the eyes of the British, the army was a tool used to suppress and manage the people; the two were essentially hostile. Letting the army mix with the people... this had already exceeded their understanding of social systems.

Situations where the army and the people labored and worked together were not rare under the People's Party's rule. The British representative had mobilized warships to Wuhan from the very beginning. It looked majestic, but in reality, after calculating again and again, it was their only final resort. Those hundreds of thousands of people involved in disaster relief along the Yangtze River were orderly and methodical. These people would be a new great army once they picked up rifles. How many shells did the British fleet have? Facing such a crowd, how much effect could those shells have?

After occupying the Hanyang Iron Works and the Arsenal, the People's Party had full ability to arm themselves. Even if the People's Party's army couldn't deal with British warships, dealing with the foreign consular corps in Wuhan was more than enough. The British were out to gain greater benefits in business, not to have a life-and-death war with the People's Party. With the strength currently displayed by the People's Party, not only would the Wuhan consular corps and concessions be unable to survive, but the People's Party's army even had the strength to attack the consular corps and concessions in Shanghai. Not long ago, the People's Party also tried to purchase naval mine technology from the British. If the Yangtze River were full of mines... just thinking about it painted a terrifying picture.

Before this negotiation, the British side had consulted Hart, the then Inspector-General of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. Hart only gave an article he had once written discussing the Boxer Movement to the British side. The negotiating representatives were deeply impressed by a passage in it:

"...The words 'imperil the world's future' will doubtless provoke a peal of laughter. Well, let them laugh, but let them see to it that they will not have to weep. Twenty millions or more of Boxers, armed, drilled, disciplined, and animated by patriotic—if mistaken—motives, will make residence in China impossible for foreigners, will take back from foreigners everything foreigners have taken from China, will pay off old grudges with interest to be compounded, and will carry the Chinese flag and Chinese arms into many a place that even fancy will not suggest today, thus preparing the way for the downfall of the world's future. Fifty years hence there will be millions of Boxers in serried ranks and war's panoply at the call of the Chinese Government: there is not the slightest doubt of that! And if the Chinese Government continues to exist, it will encourage (and it will be quite right to encourage), uphold, and develop this national Chinese movement; it bodes no good for the rest of the world, but China will have right on her side, and China will carry through her national program!..."

The British representative now felt that Hart was really too conservative. It didn't take fifty years; less than six years after the Boxer Movement, a trained, disciplined People's Party army had already risen. And the leader of this team was a scientist whom even the British had to admire for his knowledge. At the same time, this person was also an outstanding politician and diplomat, a difficult opponent who understood where the interests of all parties lay.

Seeing the hesitant look of the British representative, Chen Ke smiled, "We, the People's Party, will maintain our trade philosophy and achieve trade balance. If we want to industrialize China, we need to import a large amount of equipment and technology. For a very, very long time, our import needs will far exceed our export capacity. In that case, a monopoly in Asia should be very good news for the British side. We have the financial power to import British materials from Southeast Asia. Rubber, petroleum, metals—it's not that we don't need to import, but that we don't have the money to import. And for your country, the Asian market share is not large; Europe is your country's biggest market. Just soda ash alone cannot affect your country's foreign trade at all."

Seeing Chen Ke's firm attitude, the British representative also simply laid his cards on the table. "The soda ash issue can be discussed further; what we need is the production technology for synthetic ammonia."

Soda ash prices were high now because the cost of ammonia production was too high. Once industrial synthetic ammonia was successfully developed, it would be equivalent to opening a big door. The British industrial world attached great importance to this.

"We have already signed an agreement with the United States. In terms of business cooperation, we must abide by the agreement. I presume you wouldn't trust someone who breaks agreements either, right?" Chen Ke smiled.

The negotiation between the two sides reached the end of engagement here. Chen Ke resolutely refused to give up the synthetic ammonia technology and demanded that the British side recognize the People's Party's competitive advantage. This result was too far from what the British side hoped for.

Upon hearing the news, the American representative immediately rushed over to negotiate with Chen Ke. After hearing Chen Ke guarantee that he would not destroy the technology and equipment monopoly policy reached with the United States, the American representative was partially relieved. Regardless, if Chen Ke really destroyed the agreement privately, the United States had no way to stop it. Moreover, Chen Ke had expressed so clearly that he would abide by the agreement.

"Mr. Chen, what other good technologies do you have for cooperation?" the American representative asked in a very dissatisfied tone. It was too surprising for the People's Party to achieve industrial production of soda ash. Although the American side respected Chen Ke's scientific knowledge, they believed Chen Ke shouldn't possess such extensive industrial knowledge. At Chen Ke's age of less than thirty, it was absolutely impossible to have the capacity of a chief engineer for industrial production of this level. Moreover, the investigation into Chen Ke's background was already a hot project. Chen Ke first appeared in Shanghai in 1905, and since then, he had never left China. These amazing industrial design concepts must have been completed before Chen Ke was 25. Such a young genius was really unbelievable. And this technological genius was also a military and political genius, which made people feel even more surprised.

"Do you want to do business in medicine?" Chen Ke smiled.

"What medicine?" The American representative immediately got excited. Helping Chen Ke contact the production of synthetic ammonia this time, he had already made a big profit from it. If what Chen Ke developed was a drug more effective than 606, it would be a road to wealth paved with gold.

"We are currently developing it. After development is complete, we will contact you." Chen Ke decided to adopt the "market hunger" marketing method. He was preparing to attempt the development of sulfonamides. In the popular science book *The Road to Conquering Bacteria*, the development processes of four drugs were highlighted: anti-diphtheria serum, 606, sulfonamides, penicillin, and other antibiotics.

The latter three were industrial productions. Chen Ke was preparing to engage in the trial production of sulfonamides. This was a major discovery in the pharmaceutical world in 1932. The development of penicillin was a completely different concept; it was a recognition and utilization of antibiotics secreted by mold. And the basis of 606 was the molecular modification and development of highly toxic arsenides. After this drug was completed, pharmacologists in the world shifted their attention to the molecular modification of toxic chemicals. Historically, it took more than twenty years before sulfonamides were developed. Chen Ke didn't know how much his existence had influenced the world. Since history had already changed, there was no guarantee that some guy in Europe or America wouldn't jump the wall in desperation and experiment with dyes, ultimately achieving success.

"Will this new drug definitely be a cooperation with us?" The American representative's appetite was thoroughly whetted by Chen Ke.

"As long as your side can guarantee our interests, why wouldn't we continue to cooperate?" Chen Ke said magnanimously. However, a sentence from Comrade Lenin suddenly occurred to him: "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."

"I hope it can really be this smooth," Chen Ke thought.